Ukraine Russia war latest: Putin’s prized Black Sea fleet ‘struggling with threats on southern front’

The Ministry of Defence has warned Russians are struggling to deal with threats coming from Ukraine’s southern flank.

“The Naval Aviation component of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has assumed a particularly important role in the Fleet’s operations as it struggles to deal with concurrent threats on the southern flank of the Ukraine war,” the ministry posted on X.

“Russia is attempting to use naval air power to project force over the northwestern Black Sea.”

They added: “Su-24 FENCER and FLANKER variant combat jets conduct maritime strike operations, including at least one recent air strike on the strategically located Snake Island.”

Ukraine’s top diplomat said the United States’ support for Kyiv was not weakening after a stopgap funding bill passed by U.S. Congress failed to include aid to Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “We don’t feel that the U.S support has been shattered… because the United States understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is much bigger than just Ukraine,” he told reporters as he greeted European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv.

“It’s about the stability and predictability of the world and therefore I believe we will be able to find necessary solutions.”

There are no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday, rowing back from comments by his defence minister who had suggested troops could carry out training in the country.

To date, Britain and its allies have avoided a formal military presence in Ukraine to reduce the risk of a direct conflict with Russia.

British defence minister Grant Shapps, who was appointed to the role last month, said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph newspaper that he wanted to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain or other Western countries.

Russian forces are making headway with tactical counterattacks in the Robotyne area.

Intense fighting has seen significant field fortifications have changed hands several times, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Geolocated footage posted on September 30 shows Ukrainian forces striking Russian troops trying to enter a trench system near the T0408 Robotyne—Tokmak road.

Ukraine had previously held the interconnected system of trenches, firing systems, and dugouts that lie between Robotyne and Novoprokopivka.

A US thinktank believes that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s 25-year-old son, Pavel Prigozhin, stands to inherit his deceased father’s millions and control of his mercenary fighters – the Wagner Group.

As he lay flowers at his dead father’s mural Pavel is already believed to be negotiating with the Russian national guard, Rosgvardia, over bringing the fighters back to combat in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Pavel emerges as an alternative Wagner commander to Andrey Troshev, who has already signed up with the defence ministry and was publicly embraced by Vladimir Putin.

It indicates “some Wagner personnel are interested in rallying around a Prigozhin-linked alternative to the Kremlin and MoD-aligned Troshev”, the ISW said.

“It is unclear what the Kremlin thinks the relationship[s] between Wagner elements and the Russian government are,” the thinktank said.

Kherson’s regional governor warned people to stay in their shelters after overnight Russian strikes killed at least one person and injured six, including two children.

On the Telegram messaging app the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, “aimed at the residential districts”, as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments.

He posted: “Kherson region, missile danger! Also, strike drones are moving towards the region! Stay in shelters!”

Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added, while authorities promptly doused a fire sparked by shelling early on Monday.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday there were no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, rowing back from reported comments by his defence minister that he wanted to begin training Ukrainian troops in the country.

British defence minister Grant Shapps, who was appointed to the role last month, said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph newspaper that he wanted to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain or other Western countries.

Hours after that interview was published, Sunak said there were no immediate plans to send British troops to Ukraine.

“What the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine,” Sunak told reporters at the start of the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester.

“But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.”

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday said any British soldiers training Ukrainian troops in Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Russian forces.

Congressional supporters of Ukraine say they won’t give up after a bill to keep the federal government open excluded Joe Biden’s request to provide more security assistance to the war-torn nation.

Still, many lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war between Russia and Ukraine grinds on. Republican resistance to the aid has been gaining momentum in the halls of Congress.

Voting in the House this past week pointed to the potential trouble ahead. Nearly half of House Republicans voted to strip $300m from a defence spending bill to train Ukrainian soldiers and purchase weapons. The money later was approved separately, but opponents of Ukraine support celebrated their growing numbers.

Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukrainian soldiers for their efforts in the war against Russia and said “ahead is our victory” in an event celebrating the country’s military.

The Ukrainian president made the comments on Sunday while marking the Day of the Defenders, a national event honouring the country’s veterans and those killed in battle.

In an address published by the Kyiv Post, he said: “Today we thank everyone who stood, stands and will stand strong. All those who were the first to take on a difficult battle.

Russia said on Sunday that air defences had shot down five Ukrainian drones over the western Smolensk region and one over the southern Krasnodar region.

Air defences shot down a Ukrainian drone in the Krasnodar region at around 0500 GMT, Russia’s defence ministry said.

At around 0600 GMT, Russia shot down three drones over the Smolensk region and at 0700 GMT shot down two more over the region, Russia’s defence ministry said.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday that Ukraine needed more military aid and he promised ongoing EU support.

“Ukraine needs more capabilities & needs them faster,” he said in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said he had discussed “continuous EU military assistance” during his first in-person meeting with Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

“We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine,” Borrell added.

This week the European Defence Agency said in response to questions from Reuters that seven EU countries had ordered ammunition under a procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted Western stocks.